Vatican Exorcist Says Yoga and Harry Potter are Satanic

When not busy covering up the sexual abuse of children and youth, the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy continues to focus on total batshitery - like finding "satanic" elements in all number of things. The bitter old men in dresses have it backwards, of course - it is they themselves and their feudal style rule of the Church that are satanic. A case in point in the lunacy that passes for serious discussion comes from Father Gabriele Amorth, a former exorcist for the Vatican, says yoga and Harry Potter are tools of the devil. Yoga's big sin is that it might lead to Hindu-like thoughts on spirituality. Amorth also claims that the Harry Potter books convince children to believe in black magic - Amorth's own stock in trade. It's amazing that children can separate fictional stories and fantasy from reality but the nasty old men in Rome cannot. Here are highlights from the Daily News on this insanity:

The Vatican’s former chief exorcist says yoga and Harry Potter are tools of the devil. “Practicing yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter,” Father Gabriele Amorth said this week.

Those seemingly “innocuous” Potter books convince kids to believe in black magic, he said. “In Harry Potter the Devil acts in a crafty and covert manner, under the guise of extraordinary powers, magic spells and curses,” said Amorth.

As for yoga, it leads to Hinduism and “all eastern religions are based on a false belief in reincarnation,” the 86-year-old priest said.

Amorth made the hellraising remarks at a film festival in the Italian city of Umbria, where he was invited to introduce a movie about exorcism called “The Rite,”

“Satan is always hidden and what he most wants is for us not to believe in his existence,” he said. “He studies every one of us and our tendencies towards good and evil, and then he offers temptations.”

Science can’t explain evil, added Amorth, who claims to have performed 50,000 exorcisms before retiring in 2000. He is both founder and honorary president for life of the International Association of Exorcists.

While the Jesuit’s remarks might strike many as the ravings of a man possessed, Pope Benedict once warned of “subtle seductions” in the Potter books that “dissolve Christianity in the soul.” The Pope has also warned that yoga “can degenerate into a cult of the body.”

I ask again, why does anyone listen to much less treat these nutcases with difference?

An Exorcist May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist

Last night I found myself talking politics with a group of friends - all LGBT individuals - and one was trying to make the case as to why they supported McCain rather than Obama, citing the GOP's traditional positions on fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and individual responsibility and freedom. While I love my friend to death, her vision of GOP is out of touch with the reality of just how crazy today's GOP has become. While many moderates try to down play the control over the Party wielded by the fruit loop nutcases of the far right, the truth is that it's the nutcases that would influence McCain's position on many issues, including appointments to the U. S. Supreme Court. As a former GOP activist in my straight life - I was actual "debriefed" by the executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party in Richmond after I left the GOP - I do know what I am talking about in terms of what has happened to the GOP. I left the GOP precisely because the Party was being taken over by the Christianist whack jobs who could not separate fanatical religion beliefs from governmental policy. Thus, my friend's vision is that of a GOP which is long dead and gone.

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In fact, if further proof of the demise of the once rational GOP is needed, one only need look at the talk of Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, as a possible running mate for McCain. You see, Jinadal believes in exorcisms of all things. With Jindal as a running mate, I guess we could expect McCain to nominate a witch doctor to be surgeon general. People truly need to wake up to the fact that the GOP base which directs the Party is CRAZY!! Here are some highlight all about Jindal:

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Bobby Jindal, the 36-year old governor of Louisiana, is being taken seriously by the national press as a candidate on the shortlist to be John McCain's Vice President. No one doubts that he's a political prodigy -- his impressive resume includes stints as president of the state university system, a Congressman and now governor. But one of Jindal's job titles hasn't gotten much attention -- and it just might prompt a few questions if his Veep candidacy gains steam: Exorcist.

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As others noted during his 2003 and 2007 gubernatorial campaigns (see update), in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer.

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Reading the article leaves no doubt that Jindal -- who graduated from Brown University in 1991, was a Rhodes Scholar, and had been accepted at Yale Law School and Harvard Medical School when he wrote the essay -- was completely serious about the encounter. He even said the experience "reaffirmed" his faith. . . . But Jindal's battle with the dark forces may become an issue should his Veep candidacy proceed. While it's hardly a blockbuster revelation, it could provide fodder for bloggers and late-night comics to turn his candidacy into a media sideshow.

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I urge you to read the full story - after the lunacy of the Chimperator, do we want more leadership by those who are not in touch with objective reality? I surely do not.